4778

Stay safe, and you are doing everything you can it sounds like. You’ll figure this out, and we are here for you to vent and be weak for, since you are being strong for 2 now.

You can do this, I know you can.

4779

Yeah, I know saying “try to rest” may be beyond the possible, but at least try to figure out a way to manage her money away from her before she gets it all. Any chance you could set up some sort of “rent” situation? (I put rent in quotes because that might not be the best approach, more of a "could you pitch in for groceries, electric bill, etc. each month? Set up an account for that and fund it? Etc. "

4780

I sort of planned for my mom to come here when she had no other choice, as in no money, couldn’t pay rent, lost the mobile. The scenario meant no money to worry about and therefore no rent, and we had this discussion a few months ago even. The room she is in, mom painted with the color of her choosing because it’s her room. I had to back out of a contract to redo the carpet because when I went to have her pick the carpet, she got really, really upset over the cost. Even when I dropped the price by a few hundred, she just used my carpet cleaner and said it’s fine.

It’s… weird how my family, most of whom are not well of, do these irrational things with money but then get so upset about the idea of doing something frankly ordinary. This is a 90s house that eventually went to renters after the owners entered a divorce. It’s not a TLC house but it needs updating, so me replacing the carpet is something I would’ve done eventually but tears, burden worries, I just left it. So the long story short is I expected mom to show up with no money, whatsoever, to work her barely working job until she physically couldn’t do it anymore and then just sort of pray she gets to SS and Medicare… Medicaid is a challenge due to the lack of filling.

And oh thank god, just got a text from the park’s manager that the one man that was missing from there has been found alive. This might actually mean every single person made it out of there. There are some MIAs. Despite the horrific nature of this thing, the death count is obviously not finished but not as high as I thought it might be. This is Almeda only that Obenchain fire is… i think the planes and helicopters might be grounded due to the smoke.

4781

Keep hanging tough, Nesrie. I know thoughts aren’t worth shit but you’re in mine. Hope you get some rain or something to help the firefighters out and start getting these things contained.

4782

Not true actually. It means a lot to me.

Mom finally let me buy her some clothes today. I keep hearing that most Americans can’t afford a 500 dollar emergency, and I have burned well past that at this point covering for multiple families for one day and my mom from now and going forward. I don’t understand what these insurance companies expect people to do until they give them some funds. Hers won’t lay anything out until an adjuster can get to the site, and those areas are still considered dangerous, only some home owners can get to their homes and even that… we don’t have enough adjusters for 600+ homes going up in flames over a period of two days, and the other fire is still coming.

This whole thing is just so… frustrating. And now we’re trying to make lists for insurance companies that barely care and I realize everything I’ve ever given her, made with her, planted for her… picked out with her, anything from our childhood that isn’t in my home is gone. And I don’t have receipts for… everything. I’ve at least reached out to my sisters to check all their receipts, all their records, all their accounts for anything they’ve given mom. If it wasn’t in the car, that’s lost.

At some point I am going to remember she had something while making a list so the insurance company can low ball the hell out of her while dragging their feet in actually helping her, and then I’ll fall apart.

There are several people right not that have nothing, they’re sleeping at shelters, and they have no support. I know that not just due to being old enough to know that, i saw them at the shelter where we went to talk to the Red Cross.

The Red Cross is not here. They keep saying they are, but it’s just volunteers with no officials, no guidance writing things on ripped pieces of papers telling people maybe they can pre-register for assistance in getting guidance and help, maybe… The registries are not actually open… this is just the list you are supposed to be able to just say yes you were affected. The Red Cross is not properly set-up here, despite what the news or social media says, and I am pretty pissed about that. I was an AmeriCorps member. AmeriCorps members are part of the Red Cross. They should be doing better than this. They’re taking donations, but they’re not set-up to give anything.

4783

This might help - https://np.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/43iyip/our_family_of_5_lost_everything_in_a_fire/cziljy3/?st=jydwu07d&sh=e47cf961

4784

Thank you!

Some of the Paradise, CA folks have been reaching out too sharing their experiences as are the homes that were lost last year here, the parents of one of my closest friends.

The bath bomb from Lush made me smile and my day. My sister took me to one of those places in NJ… once. I was floored by the prices.

Also the two unofficial sources that did better than the official sources are the MedfordAlert Twitter account and the RogueWeather.com FB account, that plus active listening to the scanner did more for us and those around us than any of the local news stations, city, police, fire or state accounts… combined.

So no, I don’t think Social Media should go away. it filled a void when we needed it.

4785

Which side of the fan do you attach the filter to? The suck side or the blow side? (I never mess with my furnace at home since I rent.)

[ed]

Never mind I just noticed the link. Apparently there’s a risk since box fans are not intended for this use and could overheat or catch fire. This can happen when the motor is turned on and the fan blades are unable to move too. (I just recently threw away a fan that would not turn for this reason.)

4786

The guy from the Twitter post I linked to, he put it on the front of the fan. I don’t know if it would matter too much either way, as long as air is going through it and you supervise it.

You don’t need to run the fan all day. I have a proper air purifier as well, when the air is bad, it turns it self up automatically. When I have windows open currently, it will kick up to high after a couple of minutes. I then close my windows, turn on my air purifier and my box fan/filter and within 30 minutes the air purifier is staying on low. So it seems to be working. The air in my condo seems to be fine.

4787

Depending on the thickness of the filter or the fan, you could tax the motor. Some of these fans are just really, really cheaply made.

4788

Glad to hear you’re okay, relatively speaking, and that your loved ones made it out. I’m half a country away, but just ask should there be anything you need.

4789

Glad to hear you’re ok; what a harrowing escape!

4790

For people looking for AQI maps, I have found the Purple map by the far best. For each sensor they have averages over time so you can see how things are changing. I have found it much more informative than all the weather site’s info.

https://www.purpleair.com/map

4791

Nice, we’re down to 310 in my area. We’re over 600 at points in the last few days.

4792

Yikes, I can’t even imagine 600. We were never that bad in the Seattle area thankfully. It was yellow and in the 230s yesterday. Today, it just looks foggy and we are around 180. It’s suppose to clear up a bit tonight though, fingers crossed.

I went for a walk when it was around 200 Friday morning. By the end, 30 minutes later, I could feel it in my throat. People are stupid (including myself, obviously). Friday, when it was still kind of sunny, there were people driving around with the tops down on their car. Saturday morning, when it was at the worst here, I saw a cyclist in full kit out riding. My neighbors, who have a young kid have had all their windows open wide everyday. My other neighbors are smokers and spend hours outside on their deck smoking.

4793

We’ve had ash rain down on us before and it wasn’t as bad as it has been the last few days and today.

They’re fighting for the town of Butte Falls today. The information I’m receiving is Utah has sent crews from the Salt Lake City area. They’re trying to do firelines but… the winds are picking up again. Winds can lead to fires just jumping the lines. That’s what happened to the Biscuit Fire years ago. The good news is… they can at least try firelines since some of that fire is in wilderness/forest areas.

Fortunately the family members that are still loggers are not there, that I know of; they’re too old to for that kind of quick moving work and well most of them were in the two towns destroyed, Talent and Phoenix dealing with other problems right now. Having said that, there are many firefighters, police officers, EMT and hospital staff, even vets that did not go home even as their neighborhoods evacuated. They kept working because they were needed.

Mom is out with little sister today. I get a breather.

4794

I never really appreciated in years past when you said you had smoke. Now that I am experiencing it first hand for almost a week, I really understand how this smoke is like a heavy hand on both your health and your psych.

It’s so darn oppressive. You can barely see a few hundred yards, the smoke permeates everything and just being out in it for a little bit is so darn gloomy it really gives me a negative attitude.

I don’t think people who see pictures really understand what we are doing through over here as I didn’t really get what Nesrie has went through in years past, and now I see, feel and smell it so I grok it.

4795

Ain’t it the truth.

I mean I always knew intellectually about that aspect of it, but being unable to even go for a run or walk all week has really hammered this home.

And really all we have been is inconvenienced. Sure the patio table is dirty from the thin layer of ash, and everything smells like a campfire in the house. Add in the imminent threat to home and life? This sucks, but perspective is keeping my mood in check. Mostly.

4796

It’s not something I would want anyone to experience unless they have to. I live in a valley, which as anyone else who also lives in a valley knows is basically a big bowl. If there’s no breeze or wind, things just sort of… sit there. So while lack of wind is a blessing to keep the fires from moving as quickly as they were, it also means our air quality gets really bad fast. It’s one of the reasons we can’t bring much heavy industry here… it would kill us.

There’s been a few years where 2 out of 3 months was just constant smoke, but if we were one of the worst places in the world at that point for air quality, I didn’t know it.

They moved us to red flag status earlier today because a slight wind has moved in, but that just made the smoke more like a haze instead of fog.

Apparently Merkley drove 600 miles to get down here and never hit a stretch of road without hitting smoke. I don’t think that’s happened before, and I expected the same thing coming back from Lebanon. It’s constant, and all across the entire state.

4797

Yeah, I’m at the bottom of the Tualatin Valley, and things have been getting steadily worse through the day regarding smoke. Currently about 500ppm, and visibility less than a mile. It is not fun.

Edit: correct orientation picture I hope

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Supposedly there is rain in the forecast in places tomorrow. I’m hoping that clears the air. This forecast makes me happy
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